Let’s Pretend

Let’s pretend!

How often we hear these words from children. How magical to be able to create a world and endless stories out of anything … let’s pretend and

imagine …. See all these beautiful leaves? An endless supply is falling from the sky. We can make a house, a circle of houses, one for everyone. We can make a whole village!

“The world of imagination is the world of eternity.” William Blake

The world for a child is a world of endless possibilities, of make-believe eternities. Fly with Peter Pan, never grow up!

Or make an entire village out of leaves? Indeed, you are invited to enter this world as you open the picture book Leaf Town Forever, written by Kathleen Rooney and Beth Rooney, illustrated by Betsy Bowen. (University of Minnesota Press)

My first reaction as a sensible adult, preposterous! Then I began to think about it. Why not? Think like a kid and “just imagine.”

Leaf Town Forever is the perfect book to let go of “real” and enjoy creating and imagining with a child.

Magic Beach by Crockett Johnson, the author, was also the creator of that magic purple crayon which does a magical job of taking us to another world of imagination. We stand on a beach, watch the waves roll in. Our feet get wet and our toes get sandy. Two hungry children write their wishes in the sand and then watch as waves wash the words away, but surprise! Their wishes become real. Bread and jam appear. Impossible, states the boy. Very possible, argues the girl. Soon the wishes grow into asking for a kingdom, a community shaded by trees, guarded by soldiers, and even led by a king. But this is a magical world and unexpected changes begin to happen. Enjoy this wistful, lovely adventure with your imagination.

Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman, a Newbery Medal author, is the author wrote a slim short novel about a lonely young girl, a refugee from a far-away country. Bravely she plants three seeds, a connection to a father lost to her. She plants the seeds in a dirty, dingy vacant lot that no one seems to care about. Someone is watching. Someone else discovers the fragile plants trying to grow but wilting from lack of water. Thirteen “someones” one by one, pause to think, to imagine, maybe … maybe I could grow a garden too.

From nothing, a garden begins to grow; from isolation, thirteen lonely individuals become a community of caring. Seedfolks tells us the story about how a garden becomes a community.

Einstein stated that imagination was more important than any skill or ability. John Lennon sang about our world and imagining what is possible. Imagine a community made from fallen leaves. Imagine peace.

Perhaps we need to think more from our imagination. As I continue to cope with the ups and downs of life, I try not to despair. I remind myself to imagine and go beyond sadness, grief, and cynicism, and imagine what is possible.

“Imagination is not a state: it is human existence itself.” William Blake